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Down Down
You, The Minister and Veronica try to make it out of The Black Vault with maximum intel and minimum loss of life. Cast * Sam Yao * Janine De Luca * Veronica McShell * Sigrid Hackenham * Owen Plot Take Her Arm And Go You're still cornered by Dedlocks in the Black Vault with The Minister and Veronica. The Minister cuts herself so the newly-zombified Dedlock follows her, while you and Veronica make your escape. Got Through! You and Veronica have ended up running further into the vaults when Sam gets the emergency lights on. Veronica sees the Minister ahead through some grating, and after a bit of effort and some arguing she's through, closely followed by that zombie. Back This Way The Minister's not sure where you are so tasks you with scouting ahead to protect Veronica. Hearing how important she is causes Veronica have a crisis of confidence, and suddenly you're cut off by zombies again. Can't Take Them All Out Your group shakes the zoms again, and The Minister gives Veronica a pep-talk about making the hard decisions. The Minister's cut is making it easy for the zombies to find you, but as they do Owen comes to your rescue in a storm of bullets. Let's Do It Sam directs you around the Dedlocks in the house, but he and Veronica object to blowing them up. The Minister gives a 5 minute warning for the Dedlocks to get out, and you and Owen go to find the Australia files. Attracted More Zombies You give thanks to the MI5's love of filing and quickly grab the file. You and Owen get clear of the explosion just in time. No time to rest, as more zombies are on their way. Don't Tell Them I Burned It Once you're clear of the zombies Owen finds an excuse to remove your headset so you can talk privately. He knows his mum's alive and doesn't need a bit of paper to prove it. It'll be your secret how the file got burned. Transcript SAM YAO: Veronica? Five? Sound off, guys. Where are you? VERONICA MCSHELL: I’m with Five, Sam. And the Minister. Um, but I don’t know where we are. DEDLOCK: Down here, fellas. Past this corridor. SAM YAO: Okay, okay. So, you’re in an underground vault controlled by the Dedlocks. It’s dark. The Dedlocks have night vision goggles. groans And one of them’s turned into a zom. You have to get out of there! SIGRID HAKKINEN: This way. SAM YAO: Which way? SIGRID HAKKINEN: I think I feel fresh air coming from this direction. VERONICA MCSHELL: Take my hand. You too, Five. SAM YAO: Oh, thank God. I’m finally hooked into their system. There’s uh, there’s like emergency lighting. If I can access it, I just need to – oh, come on! Come on, Sam, come on. JANINE DE LUCA: Calm down, Mister Yao. Take your time. moans SAM YAO: They haven’t got any time! SIGRID HAKKINEN: Veronica, my dear. It is vital that you make it out of here. Your work is too important. You’re too important. Now, I’ve cut myself. That way, I can make sure the retched zom follows me and not you. Now, go! JANINE DE LUCA: Oh. That’s - VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re not leaving you! SIGRID HAKKINEN: You most certainly are. Take her arm, Five, and go. Run! VERONICA MCSHELL coughs SAM YAO: What’s the matter? Are you shot? VERONICA MCSHELL: No, I just ran into a wall. But I think we’ve lost the Dedlocks for now. JANINE DE LUCA: And the zombie? VERONICA MCSHELL: The zom, too. But we need those lights. SAM YAO: I’m working on it, Ronnie. I’m nearly – yes! Got it. turn on VERONICA MCSHELL: Thank God! Ooh, sorry about the black eye, Five. I didn’t realize my elbow was that close to your face. JANINE DE LUCA: Now you can see. Can you tell us where you are, Miss McShell? VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s hard to say. We must be deeper in the vault, or in whatever layer just below there. There are no display cases here, just a lot of pipes and fiber optic cables. JANINE DE LUCA: Your signal’s very faint. Don’t go any deeper. VERONICA MCSHELL: Alright, we’ll - no, wait! Did you see that, Five? Up ahead, behind that grate. I think it’s Sigrid. SAM YAO: Don’t go any further! If you go out of range, I – out by static VERONICA MCSHELL: It is! Sigrid! SIGRID HAKKINEN: Five, Veronica, turn back immediately. That zombie is right behind me. VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re not deserting you, Sigrid. Five, grab the other side of that grating. It looks rusty to me. Now pull! SIGRID HAKKINEN: There isn’t time! You’re much too important, my dear. You might hold the future of the entire human race in your hands. No individual life stacks up against that! VERONICA MCSHELL: We can get you out of here. Come on, Five. Pull! creaks Done it! SIGRID HAKKINEN: Alright, I’m through. VERONICA MCSHELL: Now, run! VERONICA MCSHELL: Sam? Sam! SIGRID HAKKINEN: I believe we’re still too deep for the signal to penetrate. VERONICA MCSHELL: Do you know where we’re going? SIGRID HAKKINEN: I’m afraid not. We’re in a level I was never given access to. Some kind of secure network, if these fiber optic cables are anything to go by. A backup in case of EMP attack. groans Not much use in times of zombie apocalypse, unfortunately. Really, the entire history of humanity is the story of people preparing for the wrong disaster. Ah, that corridor looks at least a little promising. It appears to be sloping up. Runner Five, do you think you might scout ahead? I hate to talk in terms of relative value, but we really must do whatever we can to get young Veronica out of here. VERONICA MCSHELL: If we’re talking in terms of relative value, it’s Five you should be more worried about. Five has value! Five’s saved Abel more times than I can count. What have I ever done? SIGRID HAKKINEN: Don’t be ridiculous, Veronica. You’re our brightest hope for a cure from this dreadful affliction. Perhaps our only hope. VERONICA MCSHELL: Yeah. Brilliant Veronica, who knows better than anyone else. I thought that too, I really did. And where has it got me? Where has it got any of us? Stuck in a basement, no closer to a cure than we ever were, and Paula just days away from dying! SIGRID HAKKINEN: It’s hardly hopeless. We may have lost the eyeball, but Five still has the cabinet. We have a message from the Vikings that could be translated given time, about how the cure was effected. VERONICA MCSHELL: I think it’s a myth! More and more every day, I think it must be a legend. It’s fun, but it’s a stupid red herring. Stories, not science. Nothing I do works! I can’t see it, I can’t see the solution! SIGRID HAKKINEN: That’s quite enough of that. You’ve made more progress than any of the scientists working at the Ministry. Women and men twice your age don’t have the insight you do. Your relentless pursuit - VERONICA MCSHELL: Relentless. Yes, that’s a good word for me, isn’t it? Do you know what happened at my labs? The labs you set up for me? SIGRID HAKKINEN: Yes, I do. VERONICA MCSHELL: Do you know that it happened because of how hard I was pushing them? I told them to ignore safety protocols, to keep on going, because what we were doing was so much more important than anything else. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Yes. Mister Sissay told me. These things happen. VERONICA MCSHELL: I managed to infect an entire laboratory full of your scientists. How many of them were there, Five? Two dozen? Three? I haven’t told anyone this. I knew that it might happen. I knew they might turn. I suspected that the Viking strain of the virus was more virulent than the modern. I told them to work without safety equipment so that they could get more done more quickly, and when I heard that they’d gone zom within ten minutes, do you know what I thought? I thought, “Ah, good, that confirms my hypothesis. Now I understand a little more about the virus.” SIGRID HAKKINEN: In other words, you were thinking about the greater good. VERONICA MCSHELL: Thinking like Van Ark! I never understood him so well as I did in that moment. His single-mindedness, his relentlessness. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Well, whatever else Van Ark was, he was a brilliant scientist. And truly, Veronica, you’re being too hard – growls Oh dear. There’s our zombie. And it looks like he’s bitten some of his friends. So much for our way out. Come on, back this way. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Well, we appear to have shaken him off for now. And I believe I can feel fresh air blowing in down this path. Worth a go, eh, Veronica? VERONICA MCSHELL: What? Oh, yes. Look, I’m sorry for being so – for losing control, before. It’s just been hard - SIGRID HAKKINEN: Twenty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-three. VERONICA MCSHELL: I beg your pardon? SIGRID HAKKINEN: Twenty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-three. That’s how many people I estimate have been killed or seriously injured as a direct result of decisions made by me. VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Perhaps you’d like to know how I live with myself. VERONICA MCSHELL: I don’t – I mean… SIGRID HAKKINEN: I live with myself the way any commanding officer does: with the knowledge that I have done my best. Someone has to make those decisions, and I’m the person who’s best equipped. It’s my responsibility to make the difficult choices, just as it’s yours. And Veronica, I may not know you well, but I know this: there is no one I’d trust more to make those choices than you. VERONICA MCSHELL: That’s very nice of you, Sigrid. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Goodness me, Five! Veronica’s accused me of being nice. And my political opponents say I’m such a bitch. VERONICA MCSHELL: But what if I don’t find the cure? What if I let everyone down? SIGRID HAKKINEN: Then you try harder. And if you can’t do everything, you do what you can. Do you know the other reason we came here, Veronica? No? It’s because this was where the Ministry kept intel they collected from the Commonwealth post-outbreak. Information from all functioning governments on number and location of survivors. Colonel De Luca hoped we might be able to find out something about Runner Six’s mother. That’s why she was so ready to agree to this mission. VERONICA MCSHELL: Oh. Well, that doesn’t really sound like Janine. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Doesn’t it? How many people do you think would be on her list, Veronica? How many did she turn away from Abel in the early days of the apocalypse, because she knew only a small settlement could survive? How many deaths on her conscience? A lot, I can assure you. But her position allows her to do things like this, to help those who can be helped. That’s the trade-off. Do you understand? VERONICA MCSHELL: With great power comes great responsibility. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Yes. That’s a good way of putting it. VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s what Sam would say. He said it to me - groan SIGRID HAKKINEN: Dammit! Why can’t we lose them? VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s the cut on your hand. Zombies can smell even small quantities of blood at great distances. SIGRID HAKKINEN: So, it appears I may have three more deaths to add to my tally. gunshots OWEN LANDIS: Hold up. Don’t go writing your obituaries just yet. VERONICA MCSHELL: Owen! Where did you come from? OWEN LANDIS: Janine sent me down, then I followed the sound of moans. Come on! The way out’s up here. Quickly! I haven’t got enough ammo to take them all out. OWEN LANDIS: Here you go. Stairs out of the bloody basement. SAM YAO: static Owen! Is that you? Five, Veronica? VERONICA MCSHELL: We’re here, Sam. All of us. OWEN LANDIS: But we’ve got zoms behind us and Dedlocks ahead. JANINE DE LUCA: Yes, we’re picking you up on the cams now. There are ten hostiles between you and the front door, all heavily armed. Mister Yao, can you guide them to the back door? SAM YAO: Yes, I… uh yeah. Uh, up those stairs ahead of you, right now! VERONICA MCSHELL: But the door’s on the ground floor! SAM YAO: So are about ten million Dedlocks. You’re going the long way around. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Look at all these files. Every corridor’s lined with them! I assumed the spooks cleaned this place out when they left, but they must have been in too much of a hurry. And now a rabble like the Dedlocks have access to all this highly classified material. JANINE DE LUCA: That is why I had Runner Six plant the remainder of Mister Sissay’s explosives around the building. There won’t be much left after they go. SAM YAO: But the Dedlocks! I mean, I know they’ve been trying to kill you, but you did kind of invade their building. And what would Saeed say if you blew up all his old friends? VERONICA MCSHELL: He’s right, Janine. We can’t kill all these people over some paperwork. We just can’t. SIGRID HAKKINEN: You have access to their systems, Colonel De Luca, do you not? JANINE DE LUCA: Most of them, yes. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Then broadcast a message over their comms channels. Tell them they have five minutes to vacate the building or they’ll all die. Let’s give them fair warning. VERONICA MCSHELL: Thank you, Sigrid. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Oh, I didn’t do it for you. Just trying not to add to my tally. JANINE DE LUCA: Very well. I’ll broadcast a warning. And the Australia files? SIGRID HAKKINEN: I believe those are on the second floor. Runner Six, you have five minutes. OWEN LANDIS: Alright then. Come on, Five, let’s do it. The rest of you, get out of here, now! OWEN LANDIS: rummages You’ve got to give it to these guys, Five. Zombie apocalypse happens, the whole world turns to crap, and they still A to Z their filing. You find the As yet? Nice one – Australia. Grab it, and let’s get down these stairs. opens and closes; footsteps on stairs DEDLOCK: There they are! Get them! gunshots OWEN LANDIS: Silly bugger! Should have listened to Janine’s warning. Get that door open, Five, quick! busts open Place is going to blow in five, four, three, two - ringing, muffled worried shouting VERONICA MCSHELL: muffled Runner Six, Runner Five! clear Here they are! Give me your hands, I’ll help you up. laughs The shockwave blew you halfway down the lawn. SIGRID HAKKINEN: Thank goodness you still have that piece of metalwork intact. When we study this in tandem with its other half, we might find something interesting. JANINE DE LUCA: Indeed. You must bring it back to Abel immediately, Five. SIGRID HAKKINEN: And while you’re doing that, I’d like a moment to debrief young Veronica. All in all, a very good day’s work, everyone. It was terribly nice meeting you all, but now we must go our separate ways. And I suggest you hurry. Sounds like that explosion’s drawn a few zombies. OWEN LANDIS: Okay, Sam, we’re clear of those zoms. How are you holding up, Five? That explosion knocked you about. That’s quite a shiner you’ve got there. Looks like it uh, wrecked your headset, too. SAM YAO: Huh? Audio sounds fine to me. OWEN LANDIS: But there’s loose wires hanging out. I don’t know about you, Five, but I’m getting this irritating whining. Let me just take them off and have a fiddle. That’s better. No, no, don’t worry, Five, they’re bonzer. We’ll put them back on in a minute. I just wanted a bit of privacy. Now, where’s that list of names? rustles Thanks. I want you to know I really appreciated the risk you took. That was above and beyond. Janine, too! She makes out like she doesn’t care, but I reckon she’s got a heart of pure one hundred percent marshmallow! Thing is, though, Janine – she likes solid things. Things she can see, and prove. Veronica, too. You know, I was chatting to her the other day, happened to mention how much better I’ve been running in these new Brooks Jody picked up for me, and Veronica said, “That’s interesting, Owen. Maybe we can conduct some experiments to see what percentage increase in your running speed new shoes produce, and how it declines over time.” laughs crackles See that, Five? Someone’s lit a bonfire. Looks like they were burning up a few zoms, and it got out of hand, hmm? Janine, Veronica, they don’t like to take anything on faith, but I reckon sometimes you just have to. I know my mum’s okay, I just know it. But if I said that to them, Veronica would just go, “What’s the margin of error on your certainty, Owen?” Janine, she’d dig up statistics on survival rates for me. That’s them, but it’s not me. I don’t need a list of names to tell me what happened to her. I don’t need to know the probabilities! I know my mum, and that’s what counts! So – paper, paper burns Don’t tell anyone else I burned it, Five. Not after all that effort. We’ll just tell them my mum was on the list, that she’s alive. It’s not a lie – I know she is. Now come on. It’s time to go home. Category:Mission Category:Season Four